I like to get my oil changed at the local instant oil change shop because they check my tire pressure and auto fluids and top them off as needed. What do you do for your car?

Chicago190

11-24-2007, 12:37 AM

In the driveway...Save myself money and know its done 100% right everytime.

milkmania

11-24-2007, 12:40 AM

once I went to a quicklube place....

right afterwards, I changed the brake pads on the truck

the front end grease zerk fittings had not been touched!:mad:

but the paperwork had been checked off that they had been greased:mad:

dmayer84

11-24-2007, 12:43 AM

I always change it myself, along with all other work, unless it is covered underwarranty. I will actually be changing it tomorrow. Every 3000 miles, even thoug the computer says i have 67% life left.

TOO-TALL

11-24-2007, 12:46 AM

I found a Quick lube place here in town ,oil with filter and check the other fluids and tire pressure for 15.00
I went to buy oil and filter at autozone to do it myself and it was 19.00.For 4 dollars cheaper I'll let someone else do it.

dmayer84

11-24-2007, 12:48 AM

I found a Quick lube place here in town ,oil with filter and check the other fluids and tire pressure for 15.00
I went to buy oil and filter at autozone to do it myself and it was 19.00.For 4 dollars cheaper I'll let someone else do it.

What kind of oil and filter do they use?

Monte

11-24-2007, 01:36 AM

I've been going to the same place for 17 years Fast Way Oil Change. Good folks.

ski_king

11-24-2007, 08:35 AM

I switch between a quick chage place that does it for around $25 and doing it myself. Depends on how much time I have. I prefer to do it myself.

I always do at least one a year my self and give a bumper to bumper check over.

When I winterized the boat a few weekends ago, I changed the oil in the boat and 4 cars. It seemed like I shold have bought a drum of oil.

tommcat

11-24-2007, 08:37 AM

right here in the dealership, by me

JohnE

11-24-2007, 08:57 AM

I've heard so many stories about the quick lube places screwing things up. Seems like half of them strip out or cross thread the drain plug.

Covi

11-24-2007, 09:06 AM

I change it myself, in the garage. Mobil 1, 5w-20 & Wix oil filters. Every time

ski_king

11-24-2007, 09:06 AM

I've heard so many stories about the quick lube places screwing things up. Seems like half of them strip out or cross thread the drain plug.
and the local story where they drained, then forgot to refill......

Jerseydave

11-24-2007, 09:22 AM

Sue, find yourself an honest local repair shop and stick with them. That's what I do with my suburban. The wife's Infiniti goes to the nissan dealer for every service, they're about $45 cheaper than the Infiniti dealer for the same service work. ($45 vs. $90!)

In the past I always did my own oil changes, but like someone said by the time you figure oil and filter cost, might as well have the shop do it. Keeps my driveway (and hands) cleaner that way too. :D

WTRSK1R

11-24-2007, 09:34 AM

99 % of the time I do it myself. Every once in a while, I just can not find time to get it done, so I will take it to the local Pennzoil quickchange. I had a bad experience with Jiffy lube either putting a beat up filter on (big dent), or denting it in the process about 15 years ago, and have not been back there (I found it on the next oil change, and no it was not from road debris hitting the filter since the filter was in a really bad spot on that car). Had another quick change place put a new filter on and start the car only to watch oil squirt all over the place because the tech had not looked to see if the old gasket was still in place after pulling off the old filter. Man was he covered with oil. The car was still in the service bay, so they just took the filter back off, got rid of the extra gasket, and put the filter back. Not really a big deal, but checking the gasket surface to be sure it it clean between the old filter and the new filter is such a basic thing that it left me uncomfortable with the type of service they were providing. Plus, as others have mentioned, I can do an inspection on many different things under the vehicle while I am there.

suedv

11-24-2007, 10:20 AM

My son worked at Valvoline Instant Oil Change for a 2 1/2 years just after he graduated from high school. I always felt good going there when he was working because he always would tell his co-workers he would do my car. He quit this past spring to work for a landscaper, but he's taught me what to ask for and watch for. I don't depend on Rick for regular maintanance of my car. I drive it, I pay attention to it, I get it serviced.

bigmac

11-24-2007, 10:24 AM

The guys that are changing your oil at your dealer are not their ASE-certified techs. They are the same pool of guys that work at Jiffy Lube/Rapid Oil Change/Pennzoil Rapid Change (and all the others). The training programs for those places in many cases vastly exceeds the training programs that dealerships provide for their oil change guys.

My son worked summers at a local Ford mega-dealership in the oil change/tire bay (yeh...doing both). You guys can't mention a Jiffy Lube oil change horror story I can't match from this highly reputable Ford dealership.

Just sayin'.....

WTRSK1R

11-24-2007, 10:27 AM

I drive it, I pay attention to it, I get it serviced.

Sue,
Those are the most important words any driver can ever speak.

A long time ago, I got in my brothers car to move it off my parents driveway. My brother is not very mechanical, and we were both relatively new drivers at the time. When I backed the car up and hit the brakes all you could hear was metal on metal grinding away. I asked him how long it had been doing that and he was not really even sure. His brakes were totally shot and he was oblivious to it.

It is more important that you get it serviced, then where you have it done.

suedv

11-24-2007, 10:42 AM

When Ben worked at Valvoline they had several required training sessions he went to. On his own he also took several automotive classes at the local community college (brakes, auto electrical systems, and etc.) At 21 he know a lot more about working on engines than Rick does.

By the way, a lot of his skills transfer to the boat. he and his friends are typically the ones to fix things on our boat as needed. In my mind it's a good trade for using what we buy. :)

milkmania

11-24-2007, 11:06 AM

I just stand outside the bay door at the quickjob place and stare at them....

they know I'm gonna catch them if they screw up:purplaugh

fskof

11-24-2007, 11:14 AM

I take my VW Touareg V8 to the dealer only because I get free oil changes/maintance up till 50k after that it will be done in my garage by me. (Im not paying $120 for an oil change.)

Footin

11-24-2007, 11:16 AM

At home in my driveway every 5k.

tex

11-24-2007, 11:23 AM

We have a nice quick change place close by that gives you a car wash too. A little expensive but worth the $$$ for the time saved.

6ballsisall

11-24-2007, 01:19 PM

The A6 goes to the Audi dealer. The Tahoe goes to a GM dealer. Done deal!

thijs

11-24-2007, 01:38 PM

I simply don't trust anyone with my vehicles anymore. I have had way to many under and overfills (those really peeve me). Plus it costs less for me to do it and it is theraputic.

Leroy

11-24-2007, 02:35 PM

I'm looking for another place, the last time I went to the quick "Jiffy" place they changed the oil but forgot to put the new oil in. I figured it out quickly when the oil pressure would not move.

Needless to say I'm looking for another place.

thijs

11-24-2007, 02:39 PM

I'm looking for another place, the last time I went to the quick "Jiffy" place they changed the oil but forgot to put the new oil in. I figured it out quickly when the oil pressure would not move.

Needless to say I'm looking for another place.

My point exactly. I would have also noticed this, but I am affraid other people living with me who we share cars would not. Like the time her waterpump went and the car started to heat up and run crappy. She noticed only that it was running bad so she decided that she better step on it to get it home before it died. Ahhhh the last nail. Nothing left of that motor.

magnum

11-25-2007, 12:36 AM

I usually change it myself on Ford F250 6.0L Diesel about $50 to change myself vs $100 from dealer 15 qt of oil plus filter

88 PS190

11-25-2007, 02:10 PM

I've had to replace more than a few oil drainplugs due to quickie oilchange guys even watched one guy put a wrench on it and hit the wrench the wrong direction. To which I immediately grabbed a manager and made them reimburse me to replace the pan and plug.

Additionally I have gotten cars that were leaking out the oil filter (two gaskets in there) and cars that the oil filter was over tightened to the point that the filter was twisted.

Now if I use quick lube places it is not for a personal car, or its to drop off my old oil.

dmayer84

11-25-2007, 02:17 PM

I just changed the oil on all 3 of our cars. 4 Runner was definately the easiest followed by my silverado. The VW passat though is such a PITA have to take all that plastic off just to get to the bottom of the engine.

damaged442

11-25-2007, 02:28 PM

I change all my own oil, mostly because of not trusting the oil change guys. I've got five engines, it adds up bigtime! The boat is by far the easiest! I'm so glad I got an inboard! Next easiest is my 73 Olds 442, then the 77 Cutlass Supreme, the 01 Impala, and lastly the tow vehicle, the 05 Trailblazer (does anyone know why the hell they take 7 quarts??!) The only time I'm at any of those quickie places is just to drop off all my used stuff.

bigmac

11-25-2007, 06:30 PM

I only get my oil changed at quickie places. I have NEVER had them fail to be there when I start the engine, watching my oil pressure gauge. Never had a busted drain plug (all the places I've seen use pits...I don't know how you'd be able to watch them anyway)...in fact, I've never had a problem at all, other than fending off their sales attempts for some kind of bogus fuel additive, new air filter, transmission flush etc.

I'm sure it's true that if you want something done right, you're better off doing it yourself, but the majority of brand-name quick oil-change places are high quality, and you're likely to get worse quality service (certainly not likely to be any better) at your auto dealership. I don't have the time to waste out in my driveway changing the oil on all my vehicles, even if I had the interest in doing so, and I'm not convinced that I (or you guys) can do a better job changing oil than a shop whose sole purpose for existence is changing oil, has all the tools and the ideal setup for doing it. I'm pretty confident that if the employee of one of those oil change places strips your oil plug, you are just as capable of doing the same thing. They've done it a heckuva lot more times than you have.

Mikey

11-25-2007, 06:48 PM

Speaking of oil changes. Can any of you Harley owners out there tell me why it costs $195 to get an oil change at the Harley dealership? After my warranty was up I started doing it myself and can usually do it for less than $50.

bigmac

11-25-2007, 07:18 PM

Speaking of oil changes. Can any of you Harley owners out there tell me why it costs $195 to get an oil change at the Harley dealership? After my warranty was up I started doing it myself and can usually do it for less than $50.

Well, for one thing your Harley dealer has to pay his service techs. Much as they love you, it's unlikely they'd want to work on your bike for free.

Additionally, that $195 likely included some other "service", such as the 1000 mile, 5000 mile, or 10,000 mile check, or they took it upon themselves to do additional checking while it was there for service. If it's 2003 or earlier they also wanted a 2500 mile and 7500 mile service as well. Even for just an oil change alone, at $100 per hour shop rate in addition to 3 quarts of oil, plus chain case oil, plus transmission oil, plus filter, well, there's your $195.

I have never bothered with any of those checks on any Harley I've ever owned, I've always done them myself. OTOH, I would never take the time to have the dealer do an oil change for me (I would if they had a Rapid Motorcycle Oil change). I wouldn't anticipate a problem getting warranty service, but I confess that in 15 years of riding HD, I've never had a warranty claim. OTOH, I have had a dealer want to ding me on trade-in value because the little service chits in my owner's manual weren't filled out so I couldn't document service. I solved that issue by going back and filling them out myself, and made a mailing label that said something like Big Mac's Harley Davidson and put it in the dealer service stamp area.

JKTX21

11-25-2007, 07:19 PM

Speaking of oil changes. Can any of you Harley owners out there tell me why it costs $195 to get an oil change at the Harley dealership? After my warranty was up I started doing it myself and can usually do it for less than $50.
:D

I take my Ford to a quick shop to have my oil done, it's just not worth the time to do it myself, and my buddy works there. My BMW goes to a Bavarian shop, I like to have it looked over every time the oil is changed. And the boat I do on my own.

Working for Lexus service, if you take your car to the dealership for an oil change ONLY, you will probably have a newbie doing it under the watchful eye of an ASE Master. However if you drop it off for the recommended maintenance, it will see an experienced technician who knows the brand.

Laurel_Lake_Skier

11-25-2007, 08:29 PM

Just got in from the garage and doing an oil change. A quick easy job and as has been said before, I know it was done right.

tommcat

11-25-2007, 08:34 PM

The guys that are changing your oil at your dealer are not their ASE-certified techs. They are the same pool of guys that work at Jiffy Lube/Rapid Oil Change/Pennzoil Rapid Change (and all the others). The training programs for those places in many cases vastly exceeds the training programs that dealerships provide for their oil change guys.

Just sayin'.....not always true. i'm an ASE master and ford senior master tech and i do oil changes occasionally.

and i wouldnt put so much faith in ASE certs, i could train a monkey to pass those

ShamrockIV

11-26-2007, 09:10 AM

I use an oil change place. on my van that my wife used to drive the oil filter sat sideways above the a-arm. always leaked at least the filter full of oil onto the a-frame and then it ran all over. made a huge mess!! i think the car manufacturers make it harder every year o tchange your own oil!!!

I will change the oil in my boat. it is so much easier than car and alot easier than dragging it 50 miles to dealer! My boas former owner had the services done by dealer. Regular sevice one year and then 100 hour service the next. Even though the boat has 450 hours on a 97 it has had all those services done!!

Sodar

11-26-2007, 11:12 AM

I do it myself 50% of the time. I have always bought a case of oil and a case of Wix Filters, so I figure I can do an oil change for about the same price as the quickie places, but I also get to check everything out myself and clean the engine compartment after I do it.

Supposedly, I can run 6,000 miles without an oil change... I am hell bent on the 3,000 mile rule, so what I do is change my own oil every other 3,000 miles and the dealer does the other ones. I have watched the dealer do their service and they really do do a good job for $35. They lube things on the chassis and even the doors in places I would not even think of. I guess if I watched them enough, I could figure out all the lube points....

thijs

11-26-2007, 12:48 PM

I worked for this yahoo up north who believed he only had to change the oil on our ambulances only every 20,000km!!! I don't care if you have special oil, this is wrong. He also never used the block heaters which is pretty standard even during the summer with the unit in garages as we don't get any warm up time for the engine, not to metion they are really heavily used. We start them and they are doing 130km/hr within a minute.

Geez, I wonder why he couldn't get them to last longer than 250,000km.

thijs

11-26-2007, 12:48 PM

Sorry double post.....

stuartmcnair

11-26-2007, 01:05 PM

he does the work and I supply all of the stuff...I only use synthetic oils and Fram ToughGuard filters. I change it every 5000 miles or so although I have had a few 10 to 15,000 mile lapses on my truck (that's why I use synthetics)...

Prostar Rich

11-26-2007, 01:11 PM

I do all of my oil changes myself. I know that the job is done right on all of my toys and vehicles.

Thanks,
Prostar Rich

Bruce

11-26-2007, 05:04 PM

I use the quickies some and then a local shop about every 3rd change to get every thing checked. By the way when the quick change guys check the computer it show my truck uses 6qts of oil. It uses 5. They charge extra for 6. This has happened at more than on place. Its is a 1998 Chevy Silv. c1500.

M-Funf

11-26-2007, 05:12 PM

I always do it myself. My cars also came with "free" oil changes for the first 40k miles, but only every 15k miles...I change my oil every 5k miles.

I change the oil myself because it gives me a chance to get under the hood and under the car...I might just see something that I need to get fixed before it's a bigger problem. Just two months ago, I was changing the oil in our Jeep, and noticed that the CV boots were both torn. Both of them were slingin' grease into the wheel wells. I caught it before it caused any damage to the CV joints :cool:

captain planet

11-26-2007, 06:11 PM

I do it myself, but I have to say that GM didn't do a do-it-yourselfer like me any favors with where they put all the grease fittings on a Suburban. I have found 11 on my Suburban's front end, and I'll guarantee that most quick-lube places will miss at least 2 to 3 of them.

Lennyp04

11-26-2007, 06:47 PM

Usually the cars go down to the local repair shop or we do it in our driveway.

Those Jiffy lubes are kinda sketchy sometimes....and expensive!

Slinkyredfoot

11-26-2007, 09:35 PM

Nothing wrong with a good lube job and oil change at "Classy Chassies"

They even offer a "customer appreciation program" that is truly the best.....

TX.X-30 fan

11-26-2007, 09:55 PM

Nothing wrong with a good lube job and oil change at "Classy Chassies"

They even offer a "customer appreciation program" that is truly the best.....

:noface: :noface: :noface: :D

88 PS190

11-26-2007, 10:10 PM

he does the work and I supply all of the stuff...I only use synthetic oils and Fram ToughGuard filters. I change it every 5000 miles or so although I have had a few 10 to 15,000 mile lapses on my truck (that's why I use synthetics)...

With some synthetics you're just throwing money away, if the oil is good till 8K you can really get more use out of it.

Drainplug incident was not over a pit, it was on a lift as the one I used was part of a towing business/BP gas station.

TMCNo1

11-26-2007, 11:19 PM

Doing it myself is something I have done since I got my first car.

tommcat

11-26-2007, 11:52 PM

I always do it myself. My cars also came with "free" oil changes for the first 40k miles, but only every 15k miles...I change my oil every 5k miles.

I change the oil myself because it gives me a chance to get under the hood and under the car...I might just see something that I need to get fixed before it's a bigger problem. Just two months ago, I was changing the oil in our Jeep, and noticed that the CV boots were both torn. Both of them were slingin' grease into the wheel wells. I caught it before it caused any damage to the CV joints :cool:something a decent shop would have caught as well. i'm sure i would have pointed it out while they were just dry rotted and not leaking yet.
but of course then most customers would have accused us of selling them something they dont need:rolleyes:

2007X45

11-29-2007, 03:30 PM

I like it done right so I do it myself.

fintek9

11-29-2007, 04:07 PM

I do all changes and lubing myself...Except my truck, I bring it to my dealer to keep me on the "VIP" list.

know all personally there so I trust them, they know I'll kick there areses if not done right.

Looking into a new ride for my wife coming up soon so I can get a good price by going back for changes and staying on that "VIP" list